BOND, John (1612-76), of Lutton, Purbeck, Dorset.

The initial problem when assessing the career of John Bond is in establishing which facts apply to the MP, and which to his namesake, John Bond the puritan minister, member of the Westminster Assembly and master of the Savoy. Although this has caused confusion in the past, it is almost certain that the MP and the divine were different individuals.14DNB; cf. Oxford DNB. John Bond the MP for Weymouth was the son of Denis Bond of Lutton, in Dorset, who made extensive reference to his academic achievements in his ‘private chronology’; whereas John Bond the divine stated in the preface of his sermon Occasus Occidentalis that he was born in Chard, Somerset, and was raised in Devon, areas with no connection with the Bonds of southern Dorset.15Dorset RO, D/BOC/22, ff. 46, 48-9; D.51/3, p. 34; Alnwick, Northumberland MS 547, f. 6; J. Bond, Occasus Occidentalis (1645), epist. ded. (E.25.22). Once the question of identity has been resolved, John Bond’s career falls neatly into place. The scion of a wealthy merchant family recently established at Lutton in Purbeck, Bond was sent to Cambridge at the age of 16, to study law. He matriculated from St Catharine’s College in 1628, becoming a fellow in 1634.16Al. Cant.. He travelled abroad in the early 1640s, returning ‘from his travels out of France’ only in 1645.17Dorset RO, D.53/1, p. 34. In the meantime, Bond’s father, now MP for Dorchester, had become an influential figure, ideally placed to further his son’s academic and political ambitions.

The first task was to gain a seat in Parliament. In October 1645 Bond was elected as recorder of Weymouth – a borough where his father had considerable influence - after a hard-fought contest with William Savage which divided the governors of the town: Bond’s opponents included Matthew Allen*, soon to be recruited MP for the borough, while his supporters included the former MP Thomas Giear* and his relative James Giear.18Weymouth Min. Bks. 55; Alnwick, Northumberland MS 547, f. 6. The recordership proved its worth in November 1645, when a writ was issued authorising the election of new MPs for the double borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. This election was also disputed, with at least seven men standing for the four seats, but Bond, thanks to his status as recorder of Weymouth, was returned with 76 voices – only nine fewer than the governor of the town, Colonel William Sydenham*.19Weymouth Min. Bks. 55-6. Immediately afterwards, Bond was also able to advance his academic career. The mastership of Trinity Hall in Cambridge had become vacant with the death of Thomas Eden in 1645. The fellows initially elected Dr Robert King, but this choice was rejected by Parliament, and John Bond was appointed instead on 7 March 1646.20Add. 6194, p. 223; LJ viii. 236a; CJ iv. 489a-b; Oxford DNB. He was awarded the degree of doctor of civil law four days later.21Al. Cant.

By the time he took charge of Trinity Hall, Bond had already taken his seat in Parliament, subscribing to the Covenant on 28 January 1646.22CJ iv. 420b. His Cambridge duties seem to have taken precedence over the next few months, as he attended the House only infrequently, his sole committee appointment before December 1646 being to the committee of both Houses to adjudge and determine the scandalous offences that would result in exclusion from the sacrament, on 3 June 1646.23CJ iv. 562b. Bond reappeared in the House for a few months from the winter of 1646-7, being named to committees to regulate Oxford University on 13 January and 23 March, and to a commission to reform the university on 1 May; and he was also appointed to a committee on an ordinance for excluding ‘malignant’ ministers from livings or college positions on 22 March.24CJ v. 51b, 119b, 121a; A. and O. On 6 April he was appointed to a committee on the petition of the freemen of Newcastle concerning the election of an MP, and on 9 April he was added to the committee to assist the Army Committee in preparing the establishment of the army.25CJ v. 134a, 138a. Bond seems to have been away from the Commons for the next few months but had returned in the late summer, when he joined his father in sitting on two committees (11 and 18 Aug.) appointed to consider the repeal of all legislation passed by Parliament during the pro-Presbyterian ‘forcing of the Houses’ in late July and early August 1647.26CJ v. 272a, 278a.

Despite his apparent willingness to support his father in these moves against the Presbyterian coup, Bond was no Independent. Indeed, his activities in the spring and summer of 1648 suggest that he was opposed to the army and its allies. In May he was appointed to two committees to investigate the recent riots against the New Model in London and to prepare propositions for peace to be presented to the king.27CJ v. 562b, 577b. On 20 July he was named to the committee on an ordinance for regulating the estates of delinquents, and on 31 July he was added to the committee to consider the petition of the City of London calling for a settlement with the king.28CJ v. 641b, 654b. Bond absented himself from Westminster in September 1648, claiming illness, and his name figured in one of the lists made in December 1648 of those purged by the army from the House.29CJ vi. 34b; A List of the Imprisoned and Secluded Members (1648, 669.f.13.62).

During the commonwealth and protectorate, Bond returned to his academic labours at Trinity Hall. He resigned the recordership of Weymouth (to be replaced by his half-brother, Samuel Bond*) in April 1649, and became professor of law at Gresham’s College in 1650.30Weymouth Min. Bks. 78; Al. Cant.; A. and O. In the same year he was appointed master of chancery in ordinary.31TSP iii. 410. During the protectorate Bond continued to benefit from his father’s standing with the regime and in May 1654 the council ordered the payment of his arrears as master of Trinity Hall.32CSP Dom. 1654, p. 179. In March 1656 Denis Bond, still anxious to promote his son, wrote to John Thurloe* suggesting that he would be ideal as a commissioner to examine corrupt practices, because of his impartiality in the affairs of government.33TSP iv. 624. The closing weeks of 1658 saw the brief resurgence of Bond’s public career. On the death of his father in September he inherited the Lutton estate and became the head of the family; and a few weeks later he was elected vice-chancellor of Cambridge University.34PROB11/282/117; E. Suss. RO, DAN/344. He used his influence both in Dorset and Cambridge in the elections for Richard Cromwell’s Parliament in December. It was rumoured that Bond was seeking re-election at Weymouth, although nothing came of it, and he was certainly prepared to stand for election for the university, in conjunction with Thurloe, although he indicated that he was willing to stand down in favour of another government candidate, Sir Anthony Morgan*.35Mercurius Politicus no. 548 (30 Dec. 1658-6 Jan. 1659), 135 (E.761.2); Henry Cromwell Corresp. 434. Bond was said to be in two minds about sitting again, ‘rather finding some inconveniency to be absent so long from the university’.36Henry Cromwell Corresp. 434. He probably returned to Parliament with the other secluded Members in February 1660, but took no part in its proceedings. He had little sympathy with the political changes that were about to take place. After the Restoration he was deprived of the mastership of Trinity Hall in August 1660 and resigned the Gresham professorship in October.37Oxford DNB. Bond retired to Dorset, where he died in 1676, and was buried at Steeple, in the Isle of Purbeck. He never married.38Hutchins, Dorset ii. 602-3.